Commenters debate whether girls' names are inherently more dynamic or simply used differently
3 Nov 2 1:03 PM · 9d ago · 4 comments · 1 source · development 3 of 6
Users discuss linguistic and cultural explanations for why girls' names shift more frequently, with some attributing it to traditions of naming boys after fathers or using biblical names, while others observe that naming conventions allow girls' names greater freedom to follow fashion.
“It's rare to hear of a girl named Elizabeth III or Mary Junior but quite common for those concepts in boys. So I think the boy names are heavily weighted on probably the most popular ~25 or so names.”
conductrNameDaisy author Data analyst / blog writer
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A name I was surprised by was someone I know naming their daughter Miles/Myles, which is such a male name in my mind. It might even be based on the Latin word for soldier. It's not one I've seen used for a girl anywhere else, yet.
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There are a few names I think are being confused. Jan, short for Janice is a female name, but Jan in Central / Eastern Europe as a form of John is masculine. Jean the female name and Jean the french male name are different.
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But Jean (English name, like Jeannie) and Jean (French form of John) are entirely different names, with different pronunciations, that happen to share the same spelling.
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There was a guy at my school named Hilary who got awful abuse for it. Always wondered why parents would do such a thing to a child.
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